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Biographical Sketch 



SENOR Lie. JOAQLIIN D. CASASUS 



AMBASSADOR OF MEXICO 



UNITED STATES 



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PRO P A T R 1 A 



New York 
Office of Modern Mexico 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



COPYRIGHT OFFICE. 



No registration of title of this book 
as a preliminary to copyright protec- 
tion has been found. 

Forwarded \o Order Dmsion -^Sy^-:.f^.^^J-^-f-.^■ 
U (Date) 

(6, i, 1906—2,000. ) ^^^ 



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Copyright, 1905 



FERNANDO SOUS CAMARA 



PREFACE 

The conviction I have that the future of Mexico depends upon the reciprocal rela- 
tions that shall be maintained with the United States impels me, as germane tliereto, to 
v.rite and publish this little sketch of the personality and career of the recently appointed 
ambassador of my native country to the country of my sojourn and predilection. 

As I am fully persuaded that a potent factor in preserving the good relations that 
exist and in augmenting the friendship that should ever endure between the two nations 
is intimate acquaintanceship between their best men. the chief object of this booklet is to 
serve as an auxiliary in introducing to eminent Americans one of the ablest men of the 
present epoch in Mexico. 

If there be any error in the use of English in tliis little pamphlet. I crave the indulgence 
of the critical reader and offer him the apology of regrettably less familiarity with the 
language of Shakespeare than with that of Cervantes. 

Fernando Sous CAmara. 
New York City, .August 1, 19(i5. 



«1PV 




SENOR Lie. JOAQUIN D. CASASUS, 
\mbassador of Mexico to the United States. 




XE of the secrets of the phenomenally firm hold that President Diaz has npcm 

Othe hearts of the people of Mexico is his unerring judgment in the selection 
of the right men for positions of honor and trust. He has just made an 
appointment, which will greatly augment his reputation at home for making 
wise selections and gain the increased respect and applause of all the world 
abroad, in designating Lie. Joaquin D. Casasus to be the ambassador of 
Mexico to the United States, to succeed the late Manuel dc Azpiroz, whose 
reniains were recently conveyed to Mexico on a warship of the American 
navy as a special mark of the good will and delicate regard of the great 
Saxon republic of the continent toward the nearest and most important and 
promising of its Latin sisters to the southward. 
In Mexico, where the merits and qualifications of the distinguished appointee are so 
well k-nown, this appointment is instantly recognized as an ideal one, and the statesmen, 
economists and litterateurs, as well as the bankers and other men of business in the 
United States, to whom the name of Casasus is not unknown, are ready to give him the 
most cordial and friendly welcome, as the able representative of their picturesque, rich and 
progressive neighbor. Mexico. 

Joaquin D. Casasus was born at Frontera. a small port on the gulf, in the State of 
Tabasco, on December 22, 1858, of Spanish lineage, his parents being Don Francisco A. 
Casasus and Seiiora Dofia Ramona Gonzales de Casasus. 

"Proud hidalgo, son of Spain, 
Whose forebears sailed the Spanish main," 

Casasus is now in the prime of life, being forty-seven years old. Though born in 
Tabasco, he was reared in Yucatan, and it was in El Institute Literario de Yucatan (The 
Literary Institute of Yucatan) where he began his studies, so that the Yucatccos not 
unreasonably claim him as a son of Yucatan. 

Seiior Casasus is of short stature and of firm, muscular build, active and healthy and 
of imposing appearance. The best feature in the personality of Casasus is his eyes, which 
are large, piercing and jet black. When he speaks his expression is very animated and 
pleasing, even captivating. He speaks English and French very well and reads German. 
One fact w'hich expresses volumes for his self-control, personal poise and keen judgment on 
hygiene is that though among smokers, he never smokes, and though having constant and 
intimate dealings with drinkers, he abstains from all alcoholic drinks. 

He is very regular in his habits. His routine of life in Mexico is as follows : He gets 
up at 6 o'clock and then works until 8, when he takes breakfast and goes out walking until 
9 o'clock; then he goes to his office where he arrives at about 9.15. He works until 12.30, 
then he takes a very light lunch and resumes work at 1 o'clock. He works until 7 and 
then leaves for home, where he dines at 7.30. Then if some entertainment offers special 



attraction to him or to his family, such as the opera, he goes; if not. he remains at home 
with his wife and children. 

From the college in Yucatan he went to the capital to complete his preparation for his 
profession, that of the law, in the National Law School there, and he took his degree in 
1880, passing the examination most creditably'. His talent and assiduity as a student com- 
manded the attention and admiration of the faculty and students, who recognized in the 
youth the qualities that have made tlie man so conspicuous among the ablest men of Mexico 
that the keenest judge of men in Me.xico has chosen him for the difficult and honorable 
post of ambassador of the republic at Washington. 

Casasus was about twenty-two years of age when he completed his law studies ; and 
soon afterward, returning to his native State, he chose the capital, San Juan Bautista. as 
the field wherein to commence his career as a lawyer. But the services of the brilliant 
young lawyer were soon required by the Governor, whose secretary he became; then he 
filled the post of editor of the official journal of the State, and finally became First Secre- 
tary of State of the State of Tabasco, doscharging the duties of each place with marked 
skill and success. The State capital was too restricted a field for capacities so extraordinary 
as those of Casasus, and when he was about twenty-four years of age, he determined to 
make the City of Mexico, whither he then went, the center of his future labors in his 
career. His superior abilities enabled him almost at once to establish himself as a lawyer 
of uncommon merit, soon winning an enviable fame in the practice of the law. Fie became 
known as one of the ablest lawyers in the City of Mexico, and his fame was not confined 
to that capital, but he gained an international reputation as a corporation lawyer, and for- 
eign as well as domestic corporations have been eager to avail themselves of his services. 
His opinioms are held in the highest esteem by his colleagues, so much so that he has 
acquired the appellation of a lawyer of lawyers. 

Senor Casasus is not merely a lawyer, but he is an economiist of ability, having made 
a special study of political economy. 

In 1.SS4 he was commissioned to settle the question or the controversy of the English 
debt of Mexico. This task he performed to the great advantage of the republic and at the 
same tim.e to the entire satisfaction of all the creditors. 

In 1SS6 he ^vas elected a representative in Congress and has served continuously 
since, having been re-elected to every succeeding legislature. The cases of President Diaz 
and Representative Casasus seem to illustrate a practice of the Mexican people to retain 
in office a good man when they find one. Senor Casasus has always served on the com- 
mittees on appropriations since the time of his entrance into the Chamber of Deputies. 
Three years after, in 1S89, he was elected president of the commission which revised the 
Commercial Code of Mexico, and the amendments adopted by this commission were almost 
exclusively his work. 

He was our delegate to the International Monetary Conference held at Bruxelles in 
1S92 to consider matters of universal interest and of most important character. 

In 1896. he was appointed chairman of the commission to which was entrusted the 
duty of drafting a bill regulating the business of banking. The bill provided by this 



commission was enacted into a law, March 19, 1897; and, under it, the tremendous develop- 
ment of the banking business in our country has been realized. Prior to the enactment of 
this law there were only the ten following chartered banks in the republic : 

Nacfonai dc M<5xico. 

Dc Londres y Mexico. 

Mincro de Chihuahua. 

De YucataTi. 

Mercantil dc Yucatan. 

Dc Durango. 

De Zacatecas. 

De Nuevo Lc6n. 

Comcrcial dc Chihuahua. 

Intcrnacional y Ilipotecario de Mexico. 

In the period of seven years to March, ]9()4. there was an increase to thirty-two in 
tin- number of chartered bahks ; of $22,068,650 in cash holdings; of $90,060,671 in bills 
receivable; of $51,242,540 in loans on personal property; of $16,356,957 in hypothecary 
loans, and of $96,684,184 in current debtors' accounts. The capital was increased during 
these seven years $67,000,800; notes in circulation, $4.'},295,057 ; sight deposits, $12,922,584; 
and a reserve fund to the amount of $18,277,174. 

Early in his college days he manifested a strong taste for economic studies, to 
which he gave close attention and in which branch of learning he soon became an expert; 
and that he has been making independent and brilliant researches in this field is evidenced 
by the long list of his works written on that and kindred subjects. He thus became known 
to his fellow countrymen as a well-equipped economist, and as a consequence held many 
important positions requiring special ability and training. For many years he was pro- 
fessor of political economy in the National School of Engineers. His eminence in this 
field of investigation has gained for him the distinction of membership in the Society of 
Political Economy of Paris. He is president of the School of Commerce, an institution in 
whose curriculum the study of political economy holds very prominent place. 

His predilection for economics, his early and thorough preparation in that science, and 
the experience he has had on the many commissions on which he has served have com- 
bined to produce the result of the writing and the publishing of a considerable number of 
treatises, orations and monographs on political economy and related subjects. The following 
are the titles of his principal works of this class : 

"La Libranza." 

"The Debt Contracted in London." 
"The Banking Question." 
"Institutions of Credit." 

"The Silver Question in Mexico." 
"The Monetary Problem." 

"The International Conference of Bruxelles," 

(which was a lecture delivered in 1893 — by request 
in the Trench language — before the Society of 

Social and Political Economy of Lyons. Trance). 
"History of Taxes on Gold and Silver." 
"The Depreciation of Silver and Its Remedies." 
"Institutions of Credit in Mexico." 

"The Mexican Peso and Its Rivals in the Extreme Orient." 
"Reports of the Monetary Commission." 



An economist so obviousW well equipped for the task could not, of course, escape service 
on the Alonetary Commission, which was created by act of February 4, 1903, the function 
of which it was to make a profound study of the currency problem in all its phases. He 
became chaimian of the subcommittee of the Commission, to which was assigned the 
task of determining the effects on the national wealth of the depreciation of silver and 
to answer the crucial and fundamental question : 

"Is it desirable to bring about the greatest possible fixity in the ratio of value between 
the currency of Mexico and the monetary standards of the foreign nations with which 
Mexico chiefly trades?" 

The lucid report this subcommittee made is from the pen of Casasus and shows most 
strikingly the solidity and profundity of his attainments in political economy and is an 
admirable product of deep research, philosophic acumen and ripe scholarship. 

Casasus was also a member of the subcommittee on which devolved the task of 
framing specific recommendations and of devising ways and means for carrying the mone- 
tary reform into execution. His contributions to the deliberations of this subcommittee 
were most brilliant, able and practical. 

At once upon the inauguration of the monetary reform, exchange became fixed, fluc- 
luations ceased and the value of Mexican money became in consequence a stable quantity, 
and not as theretofore subject to constant variations. Bankruptcies became less fre- 
quent, and failures that would have been produced under the old system were avoided, for it is 
indisputable that one of the great evils of the silver system was that bankruptcies were often 
directly caused by it. The economical status of the country has been generally and very 
materially improved, for now foreign capital can rely upon the constancy of the value of 
Mexican money and therefore does not hesitate to invest in mines, industries, agricultural 
enterprises, etc., the currency of the country no longer being exposed to the blight of a 
continuous and progressive depreciation. 

The gold standard — the greatest economic reform in the history of our countrj', not 
excepting even that other most notable reform* by which free interstate trade was 
secured — has been thoroughlj' established, and is in successful and satisfactory operation. 
Thus the services of Seiior Casasus to our country in the overthrow of the old monetary 
system — a ^vork he materially helped to accomplish — have been of the greatest value. 

Senor Casasus is a member of the Spanish Academy, a member of the Society of 
Political Science of Bru.xelles, and a member of the Society of Political and Social Science 
of Philadelphia. He is president of the Liceo .Mtamirano, which is the highest literary 
academy in Mexico, named in honor of our great patriot, statesman and poet, Ignacio M. 
Altamirano. This society or literary institute Seiior Casasus reorganized and he devotes 
much time and labor to make its periodical reunions and symposia most valuable and 
interesting. 

'Note. — Mr. Limantour, by means of a most wise and salutary amendment to the Constitution, accom- 
plished the abolition of the local tax on Mexican goods, a result which all our financiers had struggled 
unsuccessfully for more than half a century to secure. This barbarous practice was an inheritance from the 
old Spanish rule, and had the effect of virtually suppressing all interstate commerce as effectively as 
does brigandage, war or pestilence. 



He is also a practical business man. He is a large real estate owner, his holdings of 
real property in the City of Mexico being of considerable importance. 

The new ambassador contributes liberally whenever appeals are made to him in behalf 
of worthy objects. He is discriminate^' generous. He gives his professional services and 
advice gratis to charitable institutions, and is active in the founding of schools. He is a 
decided protector of promising literary fledglings. He has lent a helping hand to many 
struggling students, young artists and litterateurs through mantaining them by 
employment in the banks he controls and he has often unostentatiously relieved distress 
among the humble and the unfortunate by his delicate supply of opportune assistance. 

Senor Casasus was a delegate to the Second Pan-American International Conference, 
held in the City of Mexico in 1901-2, and was appointed to the office of General Secretary, 
which, as he filled the post, was not less important than the presidency of the Conference, 
for those who are familiar with the transactions of the Conference know that more than 
once, at the times of greatest tension and conflict of opinion and interest, its disruption 
v/as averted by the wisdom, tact and conciliatory counsel of Casasus, fortified and upheld 
by the action of the accomplished chairman of the Congress, Lie. Genaro Raigosa. 

Here, as is his habit everywhere, Casasus acted the part of the most courtly gentleman 
that he is. for no matter how exacting and perturbing his official duties may, at times, have 
been in that experimental Universal Congress of the Nations of America. Casasus was 
invariably most affable, generous and considerate toward all. doing his utmost to preserve 
hormony and to develop amity. 

Moreover, Senor Casasus performed the exacting and momentous services that fell to 
the lot of the Secretary General of the Conference not only without pecuniary compen- 
sation, just as all our other delegates served, but, in so doing, he did not hesitate to 
sacrifice his persona! and professional interests — precisely as he may always be expected to 
do in behalf of larger and of even sentimental aims — for Casasus is a patriot and a man of 
the broadest public spirit, as this case well illustrates, and as is abundantly demonstrated 
by his ready sacrifice of his own pecuniary interests whenever the opportunitj' offers itself 
to promote, by so doing, the welfare of our country. His acceptance of the principalship 
of the School of Commerce with its onerous duties is another instance of this self-sacrifice, 
but a still more striking one is his acceptance of the ambassadorship, which necessitates 
the relegation to second place of his established and productive business as a lawyer in 
the City of Mexico, which is worth many times the salary he will receive as ambassador. 

Repeatedly during the Conference he extended to the delegates an elegant and lavish 
hospitality at his delightful home, diplomatically disposing the chief delegates in congenial 
and convenient groups at his tables to promote acquaintanceship, produce mutual under- 
standing and establish the harmony so necessary to achieve the best results from this 
tentative legislative union of the American Nations. 

Upon Casasus devolved the duty of delivering the oration at the obsequies of Senhor 
Jose Hygino Duarte Pereira, the Brazilian delegate, who died during the time of the 
Conference. This oration, able and beautiful was appreciated and lauded warmly by all 
who heard it. 






SENOKA DONA CATALINA ALTAMIRANO DE CASASUS, 
Wife of the Mexican Ambassador to tlie United States. 



Though as a lawyer Seiior Casasus has perhaps the most extensive and important 
practice in Mexico and the laigest American clientele, he has risen to eminence not only 
in the profession of law and in the field of political economy as teacher, writer and 
legislator, as has been shown, but he has given long and earnest study to the science of 
banking. He has large and very important banking interests. He is a shareholder in many 
of the banks of Mexico and is interested in mo«t of them directly or indirectly. As a 
legislator he has, thus equipped, been fertile in practical initiatives for the benefit of the 
commercial and financial interests of Mexico. He was chiefly instrumental in founding the 
Banco Central (The Central Bank) of which he is now the vice-president, a bank which 
has done a work of inestimable value in harmonizing and unifying the methods of the 
State banks of Mexico. The accomplishment of this end has produced most important 
advantages to the business community, for the affiliation, actual or nominal, formal or 
tacit, of the State banks with the strong central institution in the capital, is regarded by 
our business world as a mark of sound and conservative management and is accepted as a 
guarantee of solvency and stability. This system produces also the effect of the national 
banking system of the United States in that the notes of the State banks circulate freely 
throughout the republic. 

It was due to the masterly exposition of the principles underlying the banking business 
and the strong and lucid arguments of Senor Casasus in the debates of this Congress — for 
he frequently took active part in the debates — that the inopportune project of a Pan- 
American bank — a somewhat visionary and premature scheme, characterized by Casasus 
as a mirage in his speech opposing it — failed to secure the endorsement of the Conference. 

The home life of Casasus is ideal. His wife is Sefiora Dofia Catalina Altamirano de 
Casasus, daughter of the eminent statesman, poet and litterateur, Ignacio M. Alta- 
mirano, whose memory is honored and held in affectionate regard by all who knew him. 
He died about twelve years ago on the Italian Riviera, being at the time consul-general of 
Mexico in France. He was one of our great liberals, a man of admirable character and 
pristine virtue and a strong supporter of that noblest of all Mexican patriots, Juarez. 

Seiior Altamirano was undoubtedly the greatest of our poets. He was known as 
"El Maestro," the teacher, poeta poetarum. 

He was one of the makers of the present Constitution of Mexico, the establishment of 
which overthrew the tyrannical domination of the clergy and which is the basis of the 
rapidly increasing and wonderful development of Mexico. 

He was a partisan of the great Juarez, with whom he co-operated, and a man who had the 
confidence and special respect of General Diaz. He wrote several volumes of poetry and 
contributed a prologue to the translation of Longfellow by Casasus, which shows his close 
acquaintance with American literature. 

Sefiora Casasus is greatly loved for her splendid qualities. She is a most accomplished 
social star, radiant with rare sweetness and sincerity. Her receptions, which are attended 
by the elite of the capital, native and foreign, are given every Thursday. She is very 
charitable, very religious and an intimate friend of Sefiora Diaz, wife of the President. 



SEP 18 19C5 



That Seiiora Casasus and her exceptionally able husband will win in Washington's polit- 
ical, diplomatic and social circles new credit and good will for Mexico is unquestioned. 

Casasus can not be reproached with the infamy of race suicide, against which President 
Roosevelt inveighs so forcefully, for he has seven children. On this score at least he must be 
persona grata at Washington, but there are so many things to recommend Seiior 
Casasus to President Roosevelt and his active and capable advisers that he must be par 
excellence persona gratissima there. 

Casasus as a boy enjoyed the inestimable benefits of the tropic sun, running barefooted 
on the sands of Yucatan ; and, unfettered with any but the lightest and slightest clothing, 
he bathed in the salutary sunshine and breathed deeply and freely of the pure, balmy air 
under the clear, blue skies of our beloved Yucatan, developing that stalwart physique and 
those extraordinary powers of endurance characteristic of the Yucateco. There also he began 
the equally wholesome, strong and admirable intellectual development that he possesses, for 
it was in early youth that his taste turned to Latin literature, and he soon became an 
enthusiastic student of the Latin classics. His devotion to them has never ceased — never 
suffered even interruption — for through all his public and professional life, however active 
and engrossing his duties may have been, he has always taken time to cultivate belles 
1 e 1 1 r e s. He has, under all circumstances, and everywhere, given special and loving 
attention to the Latin classics. He devotes Sundays to this choice work. He remains at 
home all day Sunday, reserving that day for this literary work exclusively. He works at 
that as hard on Sunday as at his professional work on the other days of the week. He 
v.ould not consider at all the best business on Sunday. 

It may seem strange that so busy a man as Casasus can find time for such diversified 
and important pursuits, but the explanation is supplied by the recent observation of an 
English journalist, who, after visiting Washington and finding that President Roosevelt, 
despite the manifold duties of his station, could so arrange his days as to keep in touch 
with both modern and ancient literature, remarked that, as Spencer points out, it is pre- 
cisely the busy man who succeeds in making the leisure for all desirable objects. 

Senor Casasus is thus more than a mere lawyer, more than a mere economist, more 
than a teacher, a diplomat and legislator, more than an author of books on economics. There 
is a higher, subtler, more refined manifestation of the intellectual life of Casasus than any 
of these. He is a 1 i 1 1 e r a t e u r — a Latinist who devotes his choice time and eager 
intelligence to the profound study and critical appreciation of Latin authors. He has the 
cultivated taste and the noble sentiments of the poet and the philosopher. There is thus 
a greater, a loftier Casasus than the man we see in the legislative assembly or in the 
forum. It is Casasus the student, the sage, Casasus the creator of literary gems and the 
dextrous translator of the literary treasures in other tongues into his native, mellifluous 
Spanish. He is preeminently homo multarum lit era rum; inter Graecos 
Graecissimus, inter Latinos Latinissimus. 

In his youth — when he was about twenty years old — he translated Longfellow's Evan- 
geline, and that version is regarded by Spanish critics as a classic. He translated later the 
Odes of Horace and the Bucolics of Virgil, wrote a critique on Cayo Valerio Catulo 



(Catullus) as well as a life of tliis author. Still later he produced a remarkable collection 
of beautiful sonnets in imitation of the Latin classics, which is published in a volume 
entitled "La Musa Antigua;" an extraordinary study of Julius Caesar; and, recently, a volume 
of the elegies of Tibullus, Lygdamis and Sulpitia. just now in course of distribution 
among his friends. 

There is space to present in this sketch only one of the sonnets just mentioned. We 
have selected one and translated it into English prose to give the bare ideas of the beautiful 
Spanish verse, the choice aroma and charm of which arc inaccessible except through knowl- 
edge of the Spanish : 

EL CIRCO ROMANO. THE ROMAN CIRCUS. 

El circo esta, como jamas, henchido; The circus is filled as never before with people 

La plebe aguarda de entusiasmo llena. The rude crowd waits eager for the spectacle. The 

\ del circo los ambitos atruena place resounds with the roaring of the wild beasts 

De las 6eras cercanas el rugido. tliat are near. 

Y un cristiano aparece; un alarido A Christian appears. From the crowd bursts forth 

El pueblo lanza; hirsuta la melena, a wild shout. With heavy mane and fiery eye, the 

Glaucos los ojos, a la ardiente arena African lion leaps to the hot arena. 
Salta un le6n del Africa. Un gemido 

Esciichase tan solo, y al instante A sigh only is heard, and at the moment of the 

Del golpe rudo al formidable erapuje forceful impact of the rough leap, the Christian is 

Rodar vese al criistiano agonizante. seen to fall and lie writhing in the throes of death. 

La roja sangre el entusiasmo excita. The red blood rouses the enthusiasm of the crowd- 

Se alza el leon sobre su presa, ruge, the lion rises over his victim, roars and the spectators 

Y el pueblo aplaude y delirante grita. applaud and shout in frenzy. 

These purely literary works are always printed for private distribution only, and the 
receipt of a mnnbered copy with the author's autograph is a coveted distinction. 

In the study of the Latin classics, he has discovered a powerful and beautiful applica- 
tion of ideas to life; he has found the secret nf true living as it was evolved by the best 
thought of one of the most glorious epochs in human history— an epoch, which it is 
l/erhaps too optimistic to hope that humanity still holds the potency to surpass. This 
.-tudy has developed in Casasus a culture, a refinement, an elegance and a subtle power that 
permeate and illumine his scientific and practical work and apotheosize the man. 

Thus it is that this study of the classics — those literary monuments w^hich are our 
chief inheritance of "the glory that was Rome"— has brought into all the work and 
activity of Casasus the benign influence cf the poets and philosophers of the past, has 
revived the essence and the spirit of Roman life and thought and aspiration, to shape and 
to adorn the career of this able man, and to guide, through him. in some degree, tlu- 
republic of Juarez to a greater and nobler destiny. 

Finis. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

016 241 863 4 




WMm^^i!'^!l^m^i^w:?Vi 



